356 
Mr. 0. Salvin's Five Months’ Birds’-nesting 
times saw a small flock. We arrived there too late to obtain 
their eggs. 
112. Herodias garzetta (Little Egret). 
The marsh of Zana, which I have occasionally mentioned 
above, is one of those places where the Waders and Ducks seem 
to delight in congregating; and, as the swampy ground is of 
very limited extent, few spots furnish a richer feast to the eye 
of a devotee to the science of Ornithology. Our tents were 
pitched close to the springs at the western end of the lake, not 
far from the Marabout of Sidi el Hadj ben Ameer, an unim¬ 
posing edifice erected to the memory of a saint of peculiar 
sanctity, but then tenanted only by a pair of Storks (Ciconia 
alba ) and their young brood. My favourite walk in the 
morning was to take a circuit of the marsh. Starting at 
break of day, the first sound that assailed my ears was the 
harsh note of Sylvia turdo'ides —a small patch of reeds, not 
60 yards from our tents, being occupied by a pair of these 
ceaseless chatterers. Attention would next be called to the 
Storks on the Marabout, which, on any one approaching, 
would make their young crouch down in their nest, while they, 
standing over, would assume an expression calculated to lead 
one to suppose that they were perfectly innocent of the exist¬ 
ence of the young brood at their feet. As I walk on a few 
yards further to escape the din of a noisy colony of Spanish 
Sparrows (Passer salicicola ), and stand still, the morning air 
bears from the neighbouring reeds the soft rattling note of 
Savins Warbler (Locustella savii ) to my ears, and I see the little 
songster perched on the extremity of the tallest reed, pouring 
forth its peculiar song, which, now swelling, now softening, 
has given to the bird the title of a ventriloquist. A few yards 
further, and the Pratincoles (Glareola pratincola) attract my 
attention by their incessant cries and furious attacks, as if 
resenting my intrusion in their domain. Among them may 
be a few Stilts (Himantopus melanopterus ), which, after making 
a circuit overhead, alight close to a small pool of water. In 
this are seen some Shovellers and White-eyed Ducks (Spatula 
clypeata and Nyroca leucophthalma ), which allow me to survey 
them with my telescope, but on closer inspection betake them- 
